The Trump administration rolled out its plan to rescue America's coal plants on Tuesday, as cities in the Northwest and elsewhere on the West Coast were breathing unhealthy air from the region's latest summer outbreak of wildfires.

And now Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Gov. Jay Inslee are announcing plans to challenge the rollback in court. "It's an affront to people who want to breathe clean air," Inslee told a Wednesday news conference.

The plan would allow states to set emission standards, easing regulation to keep aging coal plants in operation. It reverses the Clean Power Plan of the Obama administration, which was aimed at speeding closure of old, polluting power plants.

"On behalf of our state, our environment and Washingtonians concerned about the impacts of global climate chantge, we will challenge this unlawful action in court," Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a statement earlier this week.

"The impacts of climate pollution know no borders," they added. "Washingtonians know how harmful climate change is to our health as we are suffering through horrific wildfires, extreme heat and historically unhealthy air quality levels."

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., on a similar theme, said: "This news is particularly insulting for families and fire crews in Washington state, where right now the skies are filled with smoke from yet another brutal wildfire season, one of many effects of climate change that our communities are experiencing in real time."

Gov. Jerry Brown was blunt in Tweets, saying: "California will fight this stupidity in every conceivable way possible."

Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley commented: "Today, the Trump agenda to turn the EPA into the Polluter Protection Agency is complete."

Washington will have company when it goes to court.

"If the Trump Administration's proposal to dismantle the Clean Power Plan is adopted, we will work with our state and local partners to file suit to block it -- in order to protect New York and all Americans from the increasingly devastating impacts of climate change," said acting New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood.

California Attorney General Xaviet Becerra, citing a lteer from earlier this year, listed possible leal grounds: lack of due process, lack of fairness, and the multiple ethical lapses of ex-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt as he worked with oil companies to overturn the Obama plan.

"T"he entire proposal deserves to be tossed in a recycling bin, but knowing the EPA's current leadership, I'm sure they don't have one," joked Massachusetts AG Maura Healey.

It was a rough rollout.

U.S. Environmental Protection Administrator Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist, put an upbeat spin on the administration's plan.

"Today's proposal provides the states and regulated community the certainty they need to continue environmental progress while fulfilling President Trump's goal of energy dominance," said Wheeler.

SEE ALSO: All the times Washington has sued the Trump Administration:

Check the slideshow to see all the times Washington has sued (or threatened to sue) the Trump administration.

Check the slideshow to see all the times Washington has sued (or threatened to sue) the Trump administration.

Photo: Grant Hindsley/Seattle PI

Photo: Grant Hindsley/Seattle PI

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Check the slideshow to see all the times Washington has sued (or threatened to sue) the Trump administration.

Check the slideshow to see all the times Washington has sued (or threatened to sue) the Trump administration.

Photo: Grant Hindsley/Seattle PI

All the times Washington state has sued the Trump administration (or threatened to)

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But the Trump proposal may not be healthy for children and other living things.

The New York Times, studying fine print of the proposal, found a prediction that increasing carbon emissions will lead to 1,400 premature deaths annually in the United States.

Elsewhere in the fine print, it states that "implementing the proposed rule is expected to increase emission of carbon dioxide and the level of emissions of certain pollutants in the atmosphere that adversely affect human health."

It tried to put a number on the consequences, predicting 48,000 cases of exacerbated asthma in the United States each year, and 21,000 missed school days.

Trump came across in 2016 as a champion of the coal industry, even as aging plants were being shuttered. Washington's last coal plant, in Centralia, is being phased out. So are coal plants near Hermiston in Northeast Oregon.

"Right now, wind power in Montana is roughly a third of the price of power from Colstrip, which remains mostly idle after it was found emitting too much climate causing greenhouse pollutants."

Coal is losing its constituency as well. The Spokane City Council voted Monday night to commit the Lilac City to use exclusively renewable energy resources by the year 2030. TransAlta, operator of the Centralia plant, participated in the accord to phase out its coal plant.

But Trump, heading for a West Virginia rally Tuesday night, is bending over the expiring coal industry and delivering a message: Where there's life, there's hope.

The unveiling of the Trump administration plan went unreported on Cable TV morning news programs, preoccupied with breaking news of the Cohen guilty plea and the Manafort jury deliberations.

Climate change is a global crisis, on the lips of world leaders and Pope Francis, but not on America's news programs.

How important is it? Consider words of Gov. Brown: "This is a declaration of war against America and all of humanity -- it will not stand. Truth and common sense will triumph over Trump's insanity."

SeattlePI.com columnist/blogger Joel Connelly can be contacted at joelconnelly@seattlepi.com

Columnist Joel Connelly has written about politics for the P-I since 1973.